De Eso No Se Habla

I wanted to make a piece about the challenge of having opposing political views to my family at a very politically charged moment. This is a conversation many people are trying to navigate, particularly among immigrant first & second gen with conservative parents. It is hard to make and love from a place of disconnect, opposition, tension, ugly. This flags contains two opposing sides, back to back. Clashing, Ornate. Dark. Light. Bold. Bright. Netted. Chained. Bling. Rooted in the past. Breaking rules. Being difficult together.

Nylon, organza, polyester, fishnet, metal chain

2019

(Currently on view at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles as part of Dream Weaver exhibition.)

Baby of All Babies

Part of a series of experimental works produced during Vermont Studio Center Fellowship 2018.

Nylon, canvas, acrylic, needles, velcro

Pivot

Part of a series of experimental works produced during Vermont Studio Center Fellowship 2018.

nylon

Desencantito

Part of a series of experimental works produced during Vermont Studio Center Fellowship 2018.

Nylon, canvas, linen, dowel

5 ft x 4 ft

Currently on view at Southern Exposure in San Francisco, CA as part of the Tallest part of The Arch exhibition.

Una Mas En El Monton

Nylon, dowel

55 x 38 inches

2018

Install shot at Southern Exposure, San Francisco, as part of the Tallest Part of The Arch exhibition 2019.

Prayer Kit For Any Imminent Situation

In response to 2017's series of natural disasters, I created a prayer kit fit for any imminent disaster. The kit includes 4 double sided laminated prayer cards, a hand formed ceramic holder for the prayer cards, two grooves, one to hold a pinch of earth and the other to hold a drop of water and a tea light holder - calling on the elements to assist in the prayer. The kit will come wrapped in a soft fabric case for easy portability. Each prayer card contains imagery and text that helps guide the user in the progressive stages of any situation.

The Sea Has An Ugly Face

In response to the October 26, 2016 NPR piece, "Improved U.S.-Cuban Relations Are Creating a Surge of Cuban Migrants" on the increase of rafter activity between Cuba and Florida, this flag makes visible the voice of the balsero. The text "the sea has an ugly face" translated to Spanish on the flag, refers to a line that was quoted by a balsero for the printed portion of the news piece yet excluded from the audio. This single line resonated as the most power, poetic and human translation of the complexity of this continuing exodus.

42" x 46"

Repurposed sail, weather resistant fabric.

Currently on view at Souther Exposure, San Francisco, as part of the Tallest part of The Arch exhibition.

ACRE Flag Pole

Flag pole permanently installed in Steuben, Wisconsin. This piece was produced while in residence at ACRE. A fallen tree was hand carved, varnished, and cemented to function as a double flag pole for future residents. Image is documentation from the inauguration performed with flags that mean nothing, constructed from fabric that was naturally dyed with locally sourced natural materials.

2018

Tropicalitis #1

32 Initiatives - SF Estuary

Curated by artist Rachelle Reichert, this exhibition was part of the State of the Estuary 2017 Conference held at the Oakland Scottish Rite. My piece responded to the State of the Estuary Blueprint which is a very detailed plan designed to preserve and educate about the necessary actions required in order to keep these essential Bay Area bodies of water sustainable. In response to each of the actions, I designed 32 prototype flags on watercolor paper with the intention of these images working to function as potentially future markers for the locations these actions are being implemented.

This piece has been acquired by the San Francisco Estuary Partnership.

100 Days Action Flag

I met with the 100 Days Action crew to design an image and create a flag that stands for inclusiveness and the long-term reverberations of small acts of resistance against the current political administration. We marched this flag across the Golden Gate Bridge on June 14th, Flag Day, as well as Trump's birthday.

100 Days Actionis a counternarrative to the Trump administration’s one hundred day plan. A calendar of activist and artistic strategy, 100 Days Action is a call to thinkers, artists, and writers to propose gestures that can be carried out either at home or in the world. Whereas the president’s 100 Days will seek to dismantle restrictions that protect our environment, public education, health, and jeopardize unprotected minority groups, 100 Days Action is a forum for resistance, an artistic coming together, an exercise in endurance, a call to all bodies that stand against bigotry, xenophobia, racism, sexism, and the destruction of our environment to act together.

EMT Flag

(Emotional Mistranslation Flag)

Mistranslations are not limited to spoken and written language. Despite the various contemporary means available to aid in communicating as humans, despite education, attraction, and even the sometimes superhuman will of love, somehow we just fail to the point of disconnect. Unlike typical flags that translate history, ideology and nationalism through color and symbolism, EMF is a piece that simultaneous signifies mourning and transience propelled by emotional loss of any kind.

Archive Argosy

The Archive Argosy flag was designed and made specifically for this experimental mobile multifunctional space and on going project by the Archive of Creative Culture led by Lacey Haslam. The Archive argosy flag travels with the Argosy, and is hoisted at every event site. (2014)

ASS Capital : Reflections of a Contemporary Culo

Performance for the This Is What I Want Festival 2015 at CounterPulse Theater in San Francisco, CA.

My Ass on Desire.

by Cristina Victor

IF my ass could speak, what would it say?

Playing with that question was the premise of my piece, ASS CAPITAL: Reflections of a Contemporary Culo produced and performed for the This Is What I Want Festival held at CounterPulse Theater in May 2015. The piece was framed as a faux Tedtalk about ass by my ass. You read that right. The ingredients: a clean stage; projected handmade images that supplemented a carefully scripted voiceover; my full body in a gray zentai costume altered to only expose my glittered ass, which was framed with an embellished sequin trim.

Before this, I honestly had never considered what desire meant to me nor was I ever provoked to make work about it specifically. After four years of producing performance work that aimed to question how Latin@ identity is framed, specifically the contradictions within mine, I took the invitation to participate in this event as an opportunity for my body and my many selves to vent. The timing could not be better. My ass was ready to unload...in Spanglish, of course.

I workshopped my piece for about six months with the Storytellers, a diverse collective of contributors to the TIWIW Festival. Access to this sex positive family allowed for a safe, vulnerable, confessional space where rich and sometimes difficult discussions on the consistent theme of the festival were encouraged. The exchange helped me shape my performance within the greater context of my work thus far. A few delicious contradictions surfaced and resonated within me as I developed my piece.

Though desire is often rooted in absence or a longing for what is not available—yet still imaginable—, in our conversations, it was consistently described as felt in the body. The body signaled wanting, for everyone. So, what did I want? How had I and did I experience wanting with and in my body? Here I had the privilege of answering this on stage for a community ready and waiting to hear it.

The contested site of my wanting and my being wanted was a no brainer.

Sabia Projects

The Bunkhouse Hotel SF

Art production & creative consultation for downtown San Francisco boutique hotel including original textile pieces and printed drawings for all 66 rooms as well as signage design and production management. (2016)

The Archive Argosy flag was designed and made specifically for this experimental mobile multifunctional space and on going project by the Archive of Creative Culture led by Lacey Haslam. The Archive argosy flag travels with the Argosy, and is hoisted at every event site. (2014)